Comparison of FTP client software

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of FTP clients. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.

Free and open-source software
Client Creator First public release date Latest stable version Software license Copy files over 2 GB limit[1] Interface
cURL Daniel Stenberg 1998 7.75.0 (3 February 2021 (2021-02-03)[2]) [±] MIT Yes CLI
Cyberduck David V. Kocher 2001 7.2.5 January 1, 2020 (2020-01-01) GPL Yes GUI and CLI
FAR Manager Eugene Roshal / FAR Group 1996 3.0 build 5665 (12 September 2020 (2020-09-12)) [±] BSD Yes TUI
*FileZilla Community 2001 (January) 3.51.0 (20 October 2020 (2020-10-20)) [±][3] GPL Yes GUI
FireFTP Mime Čuvalo 2004 (September) 2.0.32 (February 1, 2019 (2019-02-01)) [±] MPL 1.1, Charityware Yes (since version 2.0.5) Waterfox, Firefox pre-version 57 addon
Fugu University of Michigan Research Systems Unix Group 2003 1.2.0 May 2, 2005 (2005-05-02) BSD ? GUI
gFTP Brian Masney 1998 2.0.19 November 30, 2008 (2008-11-30) GPL Yes GTK+
lftp Alexander V. Lukyanov 1996 (August) 4.9.2 (August 13, 2020 (2020-08-13)[4]) [±] GPL Yes CLI
Macfusion Michael Gorbach 0 ? 2.0.4 BSD ? GUI
NcFTP NcFTP Software Inc. 1991 3.2.6 November 27, 2016 (2016-11-27) Clarified Artistic License Yes CLI
net2ftp David C. Gartner 2003 (January) 0.98 March 1, 2013 (2013-03-01) GPL ? Web application
Rclone Nick Craig-Wood 2014 (July) 1.54 February 2, 2021 (2021-02-02) MIT Yes CLI
tnftp Luke Mewburn 1999 20151004 October 4, 2015 (2015-10-04) BSD Yes CLI
WinSCP Martin Přikryl 2000 5.17.10[5] (January 26, 2021 (2021-01-26)) [±] GPL Yes GUI and CLI
  • FileZilla downloads now contain adware/malware[6].

Proprietary freeware
Client Creator First public release date Latest stable version Software license Copy files over 2 GB[1] Interface
CrossFTP CrossFTP Software 2006 1.99.2 Proprietary Yes GUI
Classic FTP NCH Software 2007 2.52 Proprietary Yes GUI
Fling FTP (free version contains adware) NCH Software 2007 1.0.7 Proprietary Yes Windows Explorer shell extension
LeechFTP Jan Debis 1998 1.3 (Discontinued) Proprietary No GUI
pbFtpClient Level5Software 2007 6.1 Proprietary ? Windows GUI
FTP Voyager Rhino Software, Inc 1997 (January) 16.1.0.0 (August 20, 2013 (2013-08-20)) Proprietary Yes GUI

Freeware and commercial editions
Client Creator First public release date Latest stable version Software license Copy files over 2 GB[1]
CoreFTP CoreFTP.com 2003 2.2 (build 1751) June 27, 2012 (2012-06-27) Freeware Yes
Fetch Fetch Softworks 1989 5.7.7 December 2, 2017 (2017-12-02) Proprietary Yes
Secure FTP Glub Tech 1999 2.6.2 July 27, 2013 (2013-07-27) Apache Yes
Sysax FTP Automation Codeorigin, LLC 2005 5.31 April 12, 2012 (2012-04-12) Proprietary Yes

Trials of commercial
Client Creator First public release date Latest stable version Software license Copy files over 2 GB[1]
AbsoluteTelnet Celestial Software 1996 9.49 July 2, 2012 (2012-07-02) Proprietary Yes
Beyond Compare Scooter Software 1996 4.3.6 October 2, 2020 (2020-10-02) Proprietary Yes
Commander One Eltima Software 2015 1.1 September 29, 2015 (2015-09-29) Proprietary Yes
CrossFTP Pro CrossFTP Software 2006 1.98.7 May 23, 2020 (2020-05-23) Proprietary Yes
CuteFTP Alex Kunadze/Globalscape 1994 9.3.0 (Windows) July 11, 2018 (2018-07-11) / 3.1.3 (Mac) May 2, 2014 (2014-05-02) Proprietary Yes
Directory Opus GPSoftware 1990 11.10 December 19, 2014 (2014-12-19) Proprietary Yes
FlashFXP OpenSight Software, LLC 1999 5.4.0.3970 April 1, 2017 (2017-04-01) Proprietary Yes
FTP Client Vicomsoft 1997 5.0.1 Proprietary Yes
SmartFTP SmartSoft Ltd 1998 6.0.2155.0 July 23, 2015 (2015-07-23) Proprietary Yes
Total Commander Christian Ghisler 1993 9.51 March 25, 2020 (2020-03-25) Proprietary Yes
WebDrive South River Technologies, Inc. 1998 2017 June 16, 2017 (2017-06-16) Proprietary Yes
WS_FTP Ipswitch, Inc. 1996 12.7 November 27, 2018 (2018-11-27) Proprietary Yes
Yummy FTP Yummy Software 2004 1.9.0 May 10, 2018 (2018-05-10) Proprietary, Setapp ?

Commercial
Client Creator First public release date Latest stable version Software license Copy files over 2 GB[1]
ALFTP ESTsoft 2000 5.31 February 1, 2012 (2012-02-01) Proprietary ?
ExpanDrive (Mac) ExpanDrive, Inc 2008
  • macOS: 7.7.0 (January 12, 2021 (2021-01-12)[7]) [±]
  • Windows: 7.7.0 (January 12, 2021 (2021-01-12)[8]) [±]
  • Linux: 7.7.0 (January 12, 2021 (2021-01-12)[9]) [±]
 Proprietary Yes
ExpanDrive (Windows) (formerly SFTPDrive) ExpanDrive, Inc 2005
  • macOS: 7.7.0 (January 12, 2021 (2021-01-12)[10]) [±]
  • Windows: 7.7.0 (January 12, 2021 (2021-01-12)[11]) [±]
  • Linux: 7.7.0 (January 12, 2021 (2021-01-12)[12]) [±]
 Proprietary Yes
ForkLift BinaryNights, LLC 2007 3.4.2 August 26, 2020 (2020-08-26) Proprietary Yes
FTP Commander Internetsoft Corporation 1997 9.21 November 8, 2010 (2010-11-08) Proprietary Yes
FTP Explorer FTPx Corp. October, 1996 1.0.1.53; January 2012 Proprietary ?
Interarchy Nolobe Software Pty Ltd 1993 (as Anarchie) 10.0.6 August 18, 2014 (2014-08-18) Proprietary Yes
Steed French Fry, SAS 2012 1.2.1.1169 June 27, 2017 (2017-06-27) Proprietary Yes
Transmit Panic, Inc. 1998 5.6.4 April 20, 2020 (2020-04-20) Proprietary Yes
WISE-FTP AceBIT 1998 7.0 (Build 7.0.4) March 16, 2012 (2012-03-16) Proprietary ?
edtFTPj Bruce P. Blackshaw 2000 2.3.0 August 26, 2011 (2011-08-26) Proprietary Yes Java JAR file
edtFTPnet Bruce P. Blackshaw 2003 2.2.1 August 26, 2011 (2011-08-26) Proprietary Yes Windows DLL

Operating system support

The operating systems the clients can run on.

Client Windows macOS Linux BSD Unix AmigaOS ChromeOS
AbsoluteTelnet Yes No No No No No No
ALFTP Yes No No No No No No
Beyond Compare Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Classic FTP Yes Yes No No No No No
Codeanywhere (webbased) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Commander One No Yes No No No No No
CoreFTP Yes No No No No No No
CrossFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
cURL (CL) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
CuteFTP Yes Yes No No No No No
Cyberduck Yes Yes No No No No No
Directory Opus Yes No No No No Yes No
ExpanDrive Yes Yes No No No No No
FAR Manager Yes No No No No No No
Fetch No Yes No No No No No
FileZilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
FireFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
FlashFXP Yes No No No No No No
Fling FTP Yes No No No No No No
ForkLift No Yes No No No No No
FTP Client No Yes No No No No No
FTP Commander Yes No No No No No No
FTP Explorer Yes No No No No No No
FTP Voyager Yes No No No No No No
Fugu No Yes No No No No No
gFTP No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Interarchy No Yes No No No No No
LeechFTP Yes No No No No No No
lftp (CL) Yes (cygwin) Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Macfusion No Yes No No No No No
Mosaic Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
NcFTP (CL) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
net2ftp (web-based) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
pbFtpClient Yes No No No No Yes No
PSFTP (PuTTY) (CL) Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No
Rclone Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Secure FTP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
SmartFTP Yes No No No No No No
Steed Yes No No No No No No
Sysax FTP Automation Yes No No No No No No
Total Commander Yes No No No No No No
tnftp (CL) Yes (cygwin) Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Transmit No Yes No No No No No
WebDrive Yes Yes No No No No No
WinSCP Yes No No No No No No
WISE-FTP Yes No No No No No No
WS_FTP Yes No No No No No No
Yummy FTP No Yes No No No No No
Client Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix AmigaOS ChromeOS

(CL) Command-Line interface only – no GUI (Graphical user interface)

Protocol support

Information about what internet protocols the clients support. External links lead to information about support in future versions of the clients or extensions that provide such functionality.

Client FTP FTP over SSH SFTP FTPS (FTP over SSL) FXP (Site2site transfer) DAV / HTTP(S) Compression Mode Z / Remote Compression API / Commandline available Resume Download Passive mode Parallel Transfer[13] Segmented Downloads[13]
AbsoluteTelnet No No Yes No No No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ?
ALFTP Yes No No Yes No No No ? ? ? ? ? ?
Beyond Compare Yes No Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) No Yes (Pro only) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Classic FTP Yes No No Yes No No No ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Codeanywhere Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Commander One Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No No Yes ? ?
CoreFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? ? ? Yes[14]
CrossFTP Yes Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ?
cURL Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes (Only) Yes Yes ? ?
CuteFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (HTTP(S)) Yes No ? Yes Yes ? Yes
Cyberduck Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes (SFTP only) Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes ? ?
ExpanDrive (Mac) Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes ? ? ? ?
ExpanDrive (Windows) Yes No Yes Yes No No ? No ? ? ? ? ?
FAR Manager Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes No ? ? Yes Yes ? ?
Fetch Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes ? ?
FileZilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes (basic) Yes Yes ? ?
FireFTP Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes ? ?
FlashFXP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Fling FTP Yes No No Yes No No No Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
ForkLift Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes ? ?
FTP Client Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes ? ? ?
FTP Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? ?
FTP Explorer Yes No No No ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? ?
FTP Voyager Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Fugu No No Yes No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ?
gFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes (control connection only) Yes ? No ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Interarchy Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? ? Yes Yes ? ?
LeechFTP Yes No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ?
lftp Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (Partial) No No Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Macfusion Yes ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Macfusion Yes ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
NcFTP Yes No No ? ? ? No ? Yes ? Yes ? ?
pbFtpClient Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No ? ? ? ? ?
PSFTP (PuTTY) No No Yes No No No No No Yes Yes ? ? ?
Rclone Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Secure FTP Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
SmartFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
Steed Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No ? Yes ? ?
Sysax FTP Automation Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes (script and command line) ? ? ? ?
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes (plugin) Yes Yes Yes (plugin) Yes ? Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Transmit Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes (AppleScript) Yes Yes ? ?
WebDrive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (SFTP) Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Windows 7 (ftp.exe) Yes No No No No No No No No ? No ? ?
WinSCP Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes (SFTP only) Yes (SCP command) Yes Yes Yes Yes No
WISE-FTP Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ?
WS_FTP Yes Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes Yes (Pro only) Yes Yes (Pro only) No Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes ? ?
Yummy FTP Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (AppleScript) Yes Yes ? ?
Client FTP FTP over SSH SFTP FTPS (FTP over SSL) FXP (Site2site transfer) DAV / HTTP(S) Compression Mode Z / Remote Compression API / Commandline available Resume Download Passive mode Parallel Transfer Segmented Downloads

References
  1. ubuntuforums.org: 2007, 2GB data transfer limitation? Quote: "...The common 2 GB limit is actually a bug in many FTP clients. If he is using Windows, try the latest FileZilla...", kernel.org: FAQ: I can't download a file with size greater than 2GB, is your website broken?, Comparison of file systems#Limits
  2. "curl – Changes". cURL. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  3. "Version history". FileZilla. April 20, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  4. "LFTP - events". August 13, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  5. "Recent Version History :: WinSCP". Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  6. FileZilla#Bundled adware issues
  7. "ExpanDrive Release Notes". Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  8. "ExpanDrive Release Notes". Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  9. "ExpanDrive Release Notes". Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  10. "ExpanDrive Release Notes". Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  11. "ExpanDrive Release Notes". Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  12. "ExpanDrive Release Notes". Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  13. "Multi-threaded and Segmented FTP · Whatbox". whatbox.ca. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  14. "Core FTP - SFTP client features". www.coreftp.com. Retrieved July 15, 2020.

See also
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